Day 19 to 38:23N 33:46W Wind F2-3SSE-NNE 123nm (23hrs as time zone changed)

123 logged today in 23 hrs which translates to 128 in 24 which is OK given the much lower winds.

A blog reader emailed yesterday to suggest that it might help Jim and Justin get more sleep when it was rough if I was to bungee them in or use a sheet tucked in tightly over both of them. I mentioned the sheet idea to Justin who thinks it would only be really effective if I also read them a bedtime story.

At some point we must not have been properly facing into wind when raising or lowering the sail as we have ripped the stitching on two of the webbing loops to which the lazy jacks attach. The lazy jacks are lines which catch the sail as it is lowered and make it easier to furl neatly into the lazy bag on the boom which can then be fastened with clips. Without these the sail will just plonk down on the coach roof and have to be tied to the boom. In high winds it is safer if we can reef or quickly put the sail into the lazy bag without having two people high up and exposed during the process. So, essentially this meant somebody was going to have to do some stitching. On questioning the crew to ascertain their experience I found that: Jim conveniently had not a clue what to do but his wife would be happy to help if here, Justin had experience sewing on a button and Louise had made an oven mitt in a home economics. It was clear that I was at least going to have to do enough to get Louise and Justin my ready volunteers up to speed.

With palm, needles and sail thread in hand we sat on the coach roof as I demonstrated my extremely untidy backstitch and how to use the leather palm to push the thick needles through the canvas. I did the first of three lines of stitching and handed over to Louise who completed hers so much faster I was really impressed but felt I should just check to see it was OK. "Louise, did you overlap the stitching at all?" "er, no, should I have?" "Well, this is more of a wavy line than stitching, so if you pull on the end it all just comes out." Thanks to my Mum for making sure I had some idea how to sew. Anyway, Louise is not slow at picking things up and she and Justin completed the remaining work in just the amount of time it took me to clean out under the cooker where a pizza tray had rusted after last night's water ingress and prepare dinner.

Over the course of today we have seen several fenders in the water and with the sails down this evening I motored up to one on which the words "Black Pearl" were clearly written. Spooky! I sincerely hope no one has recently sunk in a boat of this name.

My Midnight to 3 watch now and we are changing time zones again (a bit late) to UT-1 so I am going to go to 3:30 then wake Justin so we each get a 30 minute shorter watch.

An excellent lunch from Louise showed great originality given the paucity of our remaining stores. We had apple and orange salad with mayonnaise and grated coconut, Tuna salad with Smoked paprika and onion and Nachos with melted cheese and hot salsa.

The wind has just picked up and we are once again a sailing vessel rather than a motorboat. Although Louise found it pantie wettingly funny when I said we still were getting "not a sausage" out of the Genoa.

Now, what shall I read the boys at bedtime?

Day 18 to 38:19N 36:10W Wind F3-5S 152nm

A very wet night indeed particularly for Justin and I. After putting towels around the floors and doorway we decided we couldn't stop water coming in unless we shut the saloon door which I don't like to do with someone outside as they can't shout for assistance. During my watch I was reduced to staring out of a narrow slit in visibility close to zero. All I could see was the rain and the radar which showed there was rain all around me which I already knew. How I regret my AIS being out of action as it shows oncoming ships regardless of rain and visibility and how glad I am that no freighters showed up in our path last night.

After the rain and good run of the last few days the wind has dropped and backed so we are now close hauled and going into the swell. Since 4am our speed has been dropping and at 10:30 we were below my magic number of 5 knots. Although this is purely arbitrary I had decided that below this sailing speed we would run the engines and use them to maintain 6.5 knots. Louise and I are overjoyed, not just because we will get to Horta faster but because each of us has an engine underneath our berth and the heat from them dries out our cabins and means we have a nice warm comfortable bed to get into. The guys in front have to make do with shared body heat.

About this time on a passage you start to look forward to the delights of shore such as a laundry with a dryer and long hot marina showers. We have just over 370 miles to go and enough fuel to motor all the way if necessary so we hope to be there late Monday night or early Tuesday morning providing we don't get full Easterlies and a very big Easterly swell.

By the way, I'd like to stress here that I'm not whinging. Quite remarkablyin my experience there hasn't been a single whine or whinge from anybody during the whole of the trip. Even Justin and Jim who have at times been uncomfortable have just slept in the saloon or grinned and bore it. I wonder how everybody would have done if they had been surrounded by their nearest and dearest? Or, this might be quite an interesting set-up for a reality TV show. You take 8 of the kinds of people who like to go on these shows (with all the wonderful personality traits this implies) and one qualified (strict and demanding) captain, you give them minimum training and then put them under stress perhaps crossing the Pacific - fear, high wind, constant violent movement, cramped conditions, having to cook and be on night watches. You fill the boat with TV cameras linked to a satellite and convert one of the heads to a diary room. Each week one of the crew is ceremonially pushed off the boat in a lifejacket to be picked up and interviewed by a second craft. It could be called Captain Bligh, which strangely is what Jim calls me. I can't think why.

Entirely by luck we should be in Faial for their official national holiday, the feast of St. John on 24th June so will hopefully see some local colour (on the other hand you can bet the shops will be shut!). We all need a break from the movement and depending on the forecast may wait out the Easterly winds before setting off on the next and last leg of the voyage. My journal for July 2nd 2008 shows us passing Gibraltar, it seems an amazing coincidence that we are likely to arrive in Gibraltar on the same day one year and 14,000 miles later.

What an amazing year it's been.

Day 17 to 38:08N 39:09W Wind F5-6S 200nm

It's 9pm and we're doing 9 knots, we have 28 knots of apparent wind 60 degrees off the bow, 2 reefs in the main and 80% Genoa - it's cold, must be the windchill. The bow dips into a wave, big splash, no problem, tilt head forward and spray hood deflects water harmlessly away behind you. I don't know why I don't like wearing the spray hood; it's a combination of claustrophobia and concern that you can't keep a good watch through the little eye slit. I usually only use it when it rains. Anyway at 9 knots one packet of spray turns out to be enough to entirely fill two long rubber seaboots and soak a rather tasteless pair of flowery boxer shorts. I put the hood up and empty the boots. My head is now quite warm, other than that I might as well be sitting here in swimming trunks. No problem though, Justin is on in a minute, in fact here he comes. He hasn't got his spray hood up, should I say something? I don't know, after all personal experience is an important part of this trip. Justin should have an easier ride as I've turned back on to our earlier course after taking a few miles off the cross track error. I have been handsteering while it is light so I can head more into the swell and turn if necessary to minimise the impact if there is a particularly big wave coming. I am sure Jim and Justin will be able to do this but I haven't yet taught Louise how to hand steer with the compass. Anyway, none of us can do this in the dark and its important people get some rest.

On a regular map a straight line between two nearby places represents the most direct route. A 1,000 mile straight line on a large scale map is in fact a curve on the surface of the earth and not the most direct route. If you follow a single compass bearing from start to finish you will be tracing a curve on the map but travelling in a straight line across the globe. Regular maps are Mercator projections and the lines from top to bottom (Longitude) are straight when in reality they should be curved. The map I am using is a gnomic projection with curved longitude lines so I can draw a straight line from point to point knowing it is the shortest route. Anyway, this afternoon I plotted our actual position on the chart (from the GPS -too cloudy for a noon sight with the sextant, not to mention that I can be 50+ miles out in bouncy conditions) and drew a line from our position this morning to it. I then measured the direction of the line with a Portland plotter and discovered that we are averaging 75 degrees not the 82 we are aiming for because of the constant weather-cocking movement from the waves and high winds. We are off course 9 miles and if we keep this up we could miss Faial in the Azores by 45 miles to the North. Normally we would just alter our autopilot heading a few degrees to compensate but at the moment that few degrees is the difference between a quiet night's sleep and lots of loud bangs so it's going to be better to change course in the morning and hand steer if required. I just heard a most enormous splash from the helm station and I do hope that Justin remembered to put up his hood. Our weather forecast had no East in the wind until late on Friday but it has got here early. If it keeps coming around so it is a full Easterly we are going to have a very unpleasant few hundred miles.

We just had lunch which was Tuna melts with Clam Chowder which Jim "passed" on as he doesn't do shellfish. We turned 30 degrees Northwards during lunch so we could eat without souping the walls and have now turned back.

Our noon run today is a record for me 200 logged miles and 186 over ground. If any of the owners group has done better I'd like to know (Tito?). Also in aggregate our log for the last 2 days has been 357 over ground and 382 logged.

Well I suppose that's it for moral standards on this boat. Justin is sleeping in Louise's bed. Admittedly, only while she's not in it but "hotbunking" does have something of a racy sound. Louise took pity on Justin who is not getting any sleep through a combination of being bounced in the air half the time and having to share with Jim. I think Jim's sense of humour and particularly his recent description of Justin as his "Ocean wife" may have been the final straw. Louise's and my cabin being at the back of the boat are less prone to bangs and fast drops. The starboard holding tank is now fixed thanks to the digester so I won't have the scuba dive from hell under the boat with a roto rooter.

Day 16 to 37:32N 43:00W Wind F4-5SSW 182nm

Whenever I mention to another crew member or think to myself I'd like more wind I'm always careful how I phrase it - A little more wind or a few more knots. At the moment with 20knots or so it's about right or a little on the high side of right even with one reef in the main. In the 6 hours between my 3am watch and 9am we ran 51 miles through the water and 48 over land. 8.5knots is a good speed for us to run consistently and this is not flat water. Last night we could see a true Ocean swell beginning to form and now it is about 10ft peak to trough with about 40ft between peaks - about right for the current wind. So it's a wild ride with a loud thwack and spray flying 20ft into the air every so often as a wave breaks or we slap down between two waves. Things we had casually perched on shelves have begun to fall off(and be put away properly) and screws (or at least one screw) have started to come undone and need to be tightened. It is also harder to sleep particularly for Justin and Jim in the forward cabin. I had to wake Justin for his watch for the first time ever. At the moment the swell is on our starboard bow. If it gets too bumpy then we will turn downwind enough to bring it onto the starboard quarter where we ride waves particularly well and they will also be slower relative to boat speed. We can change course later when things calm a little as they are supposed to by Saturday. When you are at the helm station and also at the peak of a wave your eyeheight is about 20 feet above the wave troughs, quite vertiginous with the wind whistling past your ears and the constant waterfall noise of our wake. Louise described the noise in her cabin as like being in a war zone.

We have had a couple of broken transmissions in French on the radio, perhaps our friends of yesterday now left far behind, but not enough to understand. They are in a 36ft steel boat and had been at a similar speed to us until the winds picked up. Haku may not be a light airs boat but she is terrific in these conditions.

Last night was movie night (although I forgot to break out the popcorn) and we watched Defiance with Daniel Craig which was pretty good. I always find it surreal to be sitting in the "living room" watching a movie and then to look outside at the big swell, it's amazing how a movie takes you away from it all. I am a closet Chick Flick watcher and I have one called The Holiday with Cameron Diaz and Jack Black on my iPod that I have watched in the past when everything got too much and I had been battered around the boat for too long. It's a charming film set in LA and England at Christmas and completely removes me from my surroundings for two hours.

Over the last two days everyone has been eating well (seasickness gone despite the bumps) and today is a comfort food day, also a cook very carefully day as the contents of a pan held in one hand could easily end upon the ceiling or over the cook. I can see Italian sausages defrosting and I suspect Jim plans spaghetti with tomato and Sausage sauce for dinner.

Now 3pm and I have filled in our excellent noon run above. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken soup for lunch. Our distance to waypoint (Horta) hit 666 and naturally something went wrong. Our starboard "black water" holding tank has obviously bunged up and when someone uses the heads we get an unpleasant smell and worse coming out of the overflow pipe. We've done everything we can think of to unblock this and are hoping that the chemicals we've put in will work in about 12 hours and in the mean time everyone gets to use mine (joy) which is in the other hull and not linked. I suppose this is fates way of compensating for the otherwise exhilarating sailing.

We've turned 10 degrees to Port to avoid hitting the swell and are hitting 10kts boat speed occasionally which makes the wholeboat gently vibrate, I assume as the hulls plane.

We had a turtle drift by us earlier and we just had a group of dolphins doing whole body leaps out of the water between the waves. They look like they are having enormous fun. Louise has at least one picture.

Yesterday we passed two half way marks, the one for this leg and the one for the whole journey. I offered to open a bottle of wine as a celebration but discovered I had no takers, even me. All high enough on the fast sailing.

Day 15 to 36:53N 46:30W Wind F3-4SSW 148nm

It's just after 1:00am and it's dark, at least that is to say the moon hasn't risen yet. In reality, there is light everywhere you look; our entire wake is alive with phosphorescence, tiny particles and larger glowing orbs about the size of ping pong balls - the brightest I've ever seen it. And the sky, it is quite impossibly full of stars, so full it's hard to identify the summer constellations because you can simply see too many stars.

Just after Louise handed over to me at midnight a freighter passed about a mile away, its two white lights one low at the front and the other high on the bridge showed it to be over 50metres long and its green starboard light visible just behind and well below bridge light showed it was headed past me going South East. She had also spotted the mast light of the French yacht about 6 miles to Port and running at a similar speed to us. Not on the radar yet so presumably not carrying good radar reflectors or a transponder like ours which makes us look bigger than we really are on other vessels radar screens - keep well clear, we like our space.

About half past 12 I thought I saw another ship just off the Starboard bow. Mars does this to me quite often, it looks very red as it comes up from the horizon and at about 15 degrees it becomes white, and noticeably bigger than the stars. I've seen one shooting star already tonight and Jim told me he saw a comet or a meteor yesterday with the longest tail he has ever seen.

Every few minutes I go up to the helm station, check the radar, let my eyes adjust and then check the horizon by eye and again with the binoculars. The freighter we saw earlier was doing 20knots, unusually fast - A small boats horizon is only a few miles (1.15*the square root of eye height in feet = miles to the horizon) for us about 3.6 miles. If the freighters light is at 30ft you'd see that at 7 miles and with a closing speed of 26knots you'd collide with it in 16 minutes - A good incentive to check every 5 or so at a minimum.

At 1:40 my check revealed a bright red light on the horizon directly in front of us that through the binoculars was clearly shaped like a flare. After a few minutes the light died entirely after appearing to illuminate smoke. I checked on the radio if there was a vessel in distress ahead but got no response. Again the flare shape gradually appeared very bright and slightly higher so presumably closer. I decided that I needed an extra pair of eyes and woke Jim but in fact got Justin and in due course Louise as well. I gave Jim the binoculars and asked him to keep an eye on the object while I started the motors so if necessary we could manoeuvre. Then about two minutes later the light disappeared entirely before re-emerging from behind cloud still red but now as an obvious part arc of the moon. If Jim hadn't also seen it looking like a flare I would feel even more of an idiot. I've done well over a hundred night watches and although the occasional star or planet on the horizon can briefly look like a light I have never seen anything like this and I'm not given to histrionics.

So, what do you do? If that had been a liferaft using its last flare then the only chance of saving lives would be to get a good bearing and range and get there fast - that needs two people, one to spot and the other to steer. If you waited until you were positive and the light went out you'd be too late. OK I feel a bit of a lemon but let's face it there is plenty of time to nap tomorrow and if we are ever in a raft at night and trying to signal for help I hope the person on watch does exactly what I did.

Great lunch from Louise today, freshly cooked Apple cinnamon muffins with crispy oat flakes on top, toast, fresh fruit and Tuna salad with spring onion. We have three oranges and five apples left with five days to go so we'll be on dried fruit and nuts fairly soon.

We've been in an informal race with the French this morning (whenever there is more than one sailboat going to the same place there's always a race between the skippers) so I have been regularly tweaking the sails. As the wind has risen we have been winning nicely with a speed over ground of 7-8knots aided by the now favourable current.

I have decided to send two days together while I can as emailing may become harder without the antenna.

Day 14 to 36:27N 49:06W Wind F3-4SSW-SW 134nm (23 hours as time zone changed)

Although not as good a run as the last few days still good given the wind, it actually works out to 140nm logged in 24 hrs although only 123nm run because of a counter current.

I've had many occasions in the past to curse Microsoft but this one was slightly different. At lunchtime today we had a call from some nice French people in a sail boat not far from ours asking if we had weather information. Apparently everything has broken on their boat and they can't get the wind speed let alone the weather. I was about to go online to get our weather information so Jim replied in French that we would call them back in a few minutes and share it with them. At that point my pc had a hard crash with the message "hardware failure contact vendor". It showed glimmers of life if left to cool for a while but clearly something was very wrong and it wouldn't work for more than a few minutes at a time. I spent some hours trying to bring my backup pc online but something in the operating system wouldn't let me create a dial up connection using the satellite modem that is clearly installed and running. Eventually I called Kim on the sat phone and she read me the weather which we were then able to pass onto the French. We expect them to buy us a beer in Horta. I don't give up on things easily (the word obsessive has been mentioned - quite often in fact) so eventually I went back to my original pc and really stripped it down with the intent of getting rid of any dust accumulation that might be causing it to overheat. This laptop has run pretty hot since it was new and I've never understood how the cooling works as it only has one vent where the air comes out and nowhere obvious for it get in. Anyway, in the course of trying to remove the base it became obvious that there was a hidden screw somewhere still holding it and it looked likely to be under the Microsoft Windows label. As we removed the label we found not only the screw but also the air intake for cooling the PC which had been covered as long as I've had it. 5 minutes of me blowing through a drinking straw making a noise like a flatulent duck (in lieu of a compressed air can) had at least some dust out of the system and it has now worked again since I reassembled it and for the first time with nice cool air coming out of the exit vent. So there you go, if Microsoft can't get you with the operating system or the software they'll do it with the label.

However, on day 13 of our voyage this wasn't enough for fate to throw at us. While reconnecting everything to the computer the plug fell off of the satellite antenna rendering it unusable. The sat phone does also have a little pull up aerial which works for voice but as you have to have 5 bars reception to get it to send or receive data this is not always a viable option for email. Justin and I have worked until full darkness with a soldering iron, a blowtorch and a cribbage board trying to repair this and have now decided to leave it until light. Finally, to cap it all we are in a 1.5knot counter current and despite going through the water at 6.3knots all day we are only going over the ground at 4.8 hence our less than stellar progress.

That said, the weather has been pleasant and we had a nice dinner of Satay pork and noodles (although my Microsoft spell checker doesn't agree and keeps insisting we had Satan pork). I am hoping we can send this tomorrow by hoisting someone up the mast with the satellite phone, otherwise I will dictate it to Kim and ask her to send it from the real world.

Frustratedly and thinking of buying an Apple.

Chris.

Day 13 to 35:52N 51:26W Wind F4-5SW 151nm

This morning we not only had four flying fish on the front deck (as is quite usual) we also had a large squid. Exactly how this got there I am not sure but presumably it was minding its own business and swam out of the side of a wave at just the wrong moment. We've also been seeing large numbers of Portuguese Men of War - I won't be going for a swim until we are well clear of these. Justin suggested that we should keep the calamari as fishing bait but I accidentally threw it over the side. A true "lapsus calami"*

We had a good run under plain sail until the wind dropped at noon and we decided to put the Spinnaker up again. Flushed with our success from the last time we decided to try an "improvement" suggested by Justin who has lots of Spinnaker experience. This involved running the sheet (rope on the corner of the sail that you use to control it) to the back of the boat instead of the middle. The sail went up fine but it was obviously not working very well and we needed to put it back as we had it before. The kerfuffle of getting the sail up is such that once you've just done it you don't want to go through doing it again. So we decided to try and move the sheet without dousing and dropping the sail. The first bit went fine as I managed to lasso the middle of the sheet so we could pull it in to arms reach. Tying another sheet on to the loop of the first one without flying off the boat was harder. We ran this through the block amidships then stood scratching our heads as to how to get the new sheet onto the only port winch when the old one was on there under load from the sail. Despite the obvious risk that we would end up flying Justin and Jim like kites from the back of the Spinnaker we decided they'd just heave on the old sheet while I freed it from the winch, put the new one on and took up the slack as rapidly as possible. Other than red faces, bulgy eyeballs and couple of hernias it went quite smoothly (actually no-one was hurt except that Jim needed a Band-Aid after impaling his thumb on a spring clip).

All of us are sleeping more than usual at the moment probably due to continually having to brace against the motion of the boat. I went back to bed after my 6 to 9am and woke up at 12 and the others are similarly affected. Jim apparently doesn't ever sleep after 6 and this morning wasn't up until after 9. We are only 5 days out of Bermuda and have another 7 or 8 to go so I am hoping we get used to this and build up core stability rather than continue to become more physically tired.

My PC went down today which was very scary as it is our link to email, weather and the backup plotter display in the event that the E80 fails. I removed everything that would disassemble wiped it all over in case I had salt on the contacts and reassembled it. I am very pleased to say it worked and I have now backed everything off onto a portable hard drive so I can if necessary install it onto my daughter's PC if there is a repeat performance. I am going to try and keep it as far as possible from the vibration of the boat and give it extra love and attention from now on.

Justin's homemade fish cakes for dinner - very nice.

We are setting our clocks forward one hour at midnight as we are well into the GMT - 3 time zone. This means Justin gets a short watch and the rest of us get an hour less sleep.

There's really not too much to report today which is probably better than the alternative. "May you live in interesting times" is allegedly a Chinese curse and probably a seaman's one as well.
My watch now. Night all.

Chrisus Navigium

*(Latin for slip of the pen, calamari in Latin is a pen fish - See, this is an educational blog)

Day 12 to 35:17N 54:28W Wind F4-5SW 152nm

If it wasn't for the meals and minor fluctuations in the wind it would sometimes be hard to tell one day from another out here. You'd certainly get bored quickly if you tried playing I Spy. However, on my 3 to 6am watch I did see a freighter and like all the traffic you meet when you are really far from anywhere it seemed to be heading right for us. With the AIS not working we don't know anything about the ships we see or their intentions so there can be a few tense moments until you are quite sure it is going to pass well clear, which in this case it did with half a mile to spare.

Jim decided to do brunch today and made biscuits from scratch along with scrambled eggs, bacon and toast - made it feel like Sunday.

Louise and Justin are now sharing my French course and Justin is supplementing this with the lonely planet French phrase book. This gives something of a quirky view on French life. In the section on love the following phrases are the only ones listed: "I love you", "Do you love me?", "Do you want to go out with me?", "Let's move in together", "Will you marry me?" Immediately below are listed some phrases for "problems" they are: "Are you seeing someone else?", "You're just using me for sex", "I don't think we'll work it out", "I never want to see you again". It's like life in 10 phrases or less. The section on sex is even stranger and includes such phrases as "Oh, Yeah", "Easy Tiger", "That was weird" and "Not if you were the last person on Earth". Finally, in the section on occupations there are instructions on only three, you can say "I'm a: Businessperson, Chef or Drag Queen (travelo) presumably you pick the closest.

We had Steak Hache (burgers) with pepper sauce, potatoes and corn for dinner. Still no one is touching the wine or beer but the day after tomorrow we will be half way through this leg of the journey and the day after that half way through the whole trip - sounds like an excuse for a celebration!

We had a really great run until about 7pm when the wind veered and dropped. We are now goose winged at just over 5knots and heading a bit to the North of our direct course. The sea has also dropped so we have ideal conditions for a good sleep. I hope to pick up more wind by morning.

Day 11 to 33:40N 57:25W Wind F4-5SSW 155nm run

I had a Red Bull to wake me up for my midnight to 3am watch, this worked fantastically well right to about 7am so I seemed very indolent today getting out of bed at 11am. Last night Justin saw the moonrise, Louise saw a shooting star, Jim saw a satellite and the dawn and I saw three episodes of 24 - that's the middle watch for you, absolutely nothing happens. The key thing is not to go to sleep because if you do you are pretty much guaranteed a very large freighter on a collision course - at least that's what keeps me awake - along with the Red Bull. By the way, when I say I watch TV on my iPod I am rigorous about still looking around and I really more listen to them than watch.

Just before lunch, Jim and I were going up to the foredeck to do our daily 100 push ups and 200 crunches when a very big group of common dolphins pulled us away and entertained us for a full hour. There must have been at least 30 of them and they seemed to be having a great time playing in our bow wave while we all sat, watched and took pictures. We must have been going at just the right speed in just the right direction for them to stay so long. Louise had prepared lunch and that just sat untouched until they finally left us. It is strange but that's the 10th day in a row that something has stopped us doing our exercise. We are expecting the weather to get a little worse over the next few days so we took advantage of the calm to top up the fuel tank. It took about 190 litres so we have just under 500 left and only ran the generator today to top up our batteries. We also topped up the water using our watermaker. This rather clever device takes in sea water, filters it and puts it under great pressure through a membrane that removes the salt. It then spits the concentrated left over brine back into the sea. Without this we wouldn't be able to consider showers and the whole passage would have quite a different aroma.

Louise wants to learn French for her travels so I have lent her the Michel Thomas course which I used and enjoyed. As we have Jim a native French speaker aboard Louise should have lots of opportunity to practise - except that the lessons are Parisian French and Jim speaks Quebecois. I haven't heard this before and as he mixes it with English I initially thought he was doing an inspector Clouseau impression. Justin has been diligently planning his travels using my "1,000 places to see before you die" alongside his guide books. He has between 7 and 15 days depending on when we arrive and mentioned that he hoped to have time to explore Spain, France and Italy. I think perhaps Justin is suffering fromhaving gone to Epcot and it being easy walking distance from Paris to Rome and Madrid. Jim, Louise and I suggested that he might have a more pleasant trip exploring the sights of Gibraltar (worth 30 minutes of anyone's time) and Spain.

Louise cooked spaghetti tonight. She is adjusting to cooking for four and we have to give her a little latitude. Last time she asked me how much spaghetti to use and didn't realise I meant per person so we were a little short. This time it somehow ended up as a single lump and we actually have pictures of Justin cutting off his portion with a pair of scissors. Fortunately the sauce effectively lubricated it and the whole thing settled out into quite a nice meal - liquid engineering from Buitoni! (For non-Brits, Liquid engineering is the Castrol oil slogan and Buitoni makes spaghetti sauce - and that's it for jokes I have to explain).

Clouds on the horizon now so perhaps not such a perfect day tomorrow.

Day 10 to 33:53N 60:24W Wind F3-4SW 143nm

The last 24 hours have been idyllic. On the 9pm to Midnight watch last night (Thursday) I got to see a fiery red moon rising through the clouds like an enormous Mars or an inverted sunset and just now at the end of today we had a “Green Flash” the first Jim had ever seen and only about my fourth (the final part of the disk of the setting sun goes green just before it disappears – I have no idea why but it is beautiful) and everything else about the day has been perfect including the fact we are at last under sail going at a pleasant 7knots on an almost flat sea. Also, I am pleased to say that our Stugeron has finally put pay to Louise's and Justin's seasickness but at the cost of them both feeling a bit tired which should wear off soon.

Everyone agrees our watch rota is working very well. Each day in a cycle of four you have a different set of watches and duties, from 9pm to 9am we have four three hour watches and from 9am to 9pm we have six 2 hour watches. For example, today I have galley duty which means that last night I got to sleep from midnight until 9am then was on watch to 11am after which I have no more watches until midnight but have to cook lunch and dinner and clean up the inside of the boat. Louise is my galley help (as I was for Justin yesterday) and assists with the washing up. Tomorrow I am on midnight to 3am then 11am to 1pm, and 5 to 7pm.The 12-3am watch is the quietest and you get neither sunset nor dawn but all the others have their own particular pleasant aspect.

We had been motor-sailing at cruise power until 9am and making just under 6knots with about 7knots of apparent wind. The latest forecast showed we had at least the remainder of the day to go before the wind picked up so I reduced power to 30% and our speed dropped to about 4.3knots. This effectively doubled our remaining motor-sailing range from 700 to 1400 miles and we had about 1560 to go. At this speed the passage would take about 3 days longer so we’d prefer a bit more wind.

Buying the spinners in Bermuda meant we could try out one of our new lures and we rigged our “Pink Willie” which is about 7 inches long and as its name suggests fluorescent pink. It is supposed to vibrate enticingly and dive much deeper than our others which almost float. When I read the advertising tag line on the packet I had to check carefully it was in fact a lure.

Chicken salad wraps with apple coleslaw for lunch and high hopes of fish for dinner.
Justin didn’t like the new lure as it was pulling too hard on the line and changed it for a pink squid on which we rapidly caught our first fish a flashing silver “baby Tunny” with an iridescent dark blue patch near its tail which under Justins direction I filleted ready for dinner.

The weather continued calm and pleasant and the wind picked up slightly bringing us back to 6knots. We had all been reading or writing this morning and for a change this afternoon Louise put on a movie. I carried out my daily rigging check and discovered why our last topping lift (holds up the boom when the sail is down) had chaffed through. Watching the new one at the masthead through binoculars when it was to Port of the sail I could see that it chaffs on the top block of our double purchase halyard (The pulley that gives a two to one ratio to the rope with which we raise the mainsail). There is a very easy fix, we just keep it to Starboard.

At that point a pod of large grey spotted dolphins arrived to play for a short while. Louise sat on one of the bow seats and tried waving and whistling in her secret dolphin language to get their attention (much like Dory in finding Nemo) and although I’m not sure if it worked one did some nice jumps up out of the water in front of her.

Everyone is getting along well, we are all readers and not “in your face” types so there is a gentle conviviality. (And no, I’m not like that anymore, a year off has made me much more laid back). No-one is yet fretting about the journey time or their duties which bodes well for the next few weeks.

At about 6pm the wind rose sufficiently that we could shut off the engines entirely and still make over 6 knots. For dinner I flash fried the Tuna in a spicy flour coating and served it with a green salad followed by a lemon cream pie on an Oreo base with Hagen Daz ice cream. There is something really special about eating a dinner you have caught and we sat around for an hour afterwards in a self satisfied daze listening to Paul Simon, watching the sun dip down and avoiding the washing up.

Finally the wind came up to 14knots, we started making 7 and we saw the green flash. It’s been a wonderful 24hrs and I just have time for a good nap before my midnight watch.

Day 9 to 33:12N 62:58W Wind F2-4WSW 108nm Part Day

We unfurled the Genoa at 03:03 this morning but it was another 12 hours before we had enough wind to hoist the Main. If anything technical bores you witless skip the next two paragraphs.


At best the wind has managed a low force 4 and we have been motor sailing down-wind Goose winged (with the wind at 150 degrees or more to starboard we have the Genoa to starboard and the Main to Port - we can use the autopilot but set it to steer to keep a consistent angle to the wind rather than a specific direction). Whilst not faster than motoring this improves our fuel consumption which with 680 litres on board and 12 days to go is a big priority. Hakuna Matata is an electric hybrid and works a bit like a Toyota Prius. The diesel generator produces 240 volts AC which is converted to 72 volts DC to charge the battery banks and power the 72 volt Leroy Somers engines. The maximum current the generator can produce is 210 amps and you can use this to power the engines, charge the batteries or both. You can even use the engines at 300 amps (maximum power) for a limited period as this uses all the generator can produce and gets the remaining 90 amps from the battery bank.


My usual cruise setting is 75 amps per engine which on a completely calm sea (with a clean bottom) gives me 6 knots. This leaves 60 amps to charge the batteries if they need it. Using the sails today gave us some forward propulsion but not enough to keep up the 5.7 to 6 knots we want to maintain so we use some power from the engine as well and we get this from the batteries. The batteries then run down over a period of time to about 50% which they can do without damage and the generator automatically comes on and recharges them. This allows us to maintain speed with the generator running about half the time and with a bit more wind as little as about one 6th of the time. Usually beyond that we have enough wind to sail with no motor and we just run the generator occasionally when we need mains electricity or to charge the house batteries that run the lights, instruments and charge all our iPods if they aren't getting enough from our solar panel. Finally, if there is lots of wind we can also use the engines as generators and at the cost of about half a knot charge up the batteries or power stuff directly in an entirely green and sustainable manor - cool eh!


Other than another sailing boat heading North we haven't seen a soul and the only wildlife has been the damned fruit flies that came in with the broccoli and are breeding like; well flies. Gregor Mendel must have been driven completely insane with the things buzzing around the monastery all the time and if he'd had a can of bug spray we'd have avoided all those tedious biology lessons and no-one could be sure who their fathers were. We do have bug spray aboard that Louise carefully selected to be as non toxic as possible (it only uses "botanical" pesticides) sadly the flies also consider it non-toxic but I have successfully swatted some with the container.


Sorry , it's been a bit of a surreal day today the only thing that actually happened was that a catch on one of our winch handles broke and we discovered that our Lewmar spare didn't fit our Harken winches (except one). We were all sure (except Louise who's never seen a winch in her life before) that these things were one size fits all. I footled around with a file and my micrometer callipers until I got bored and will have another go in the morning.


I'm finally going to have to give up the nightly beer as I am now certain it is affecting my sleep. For heaven knows what reason the following has been going round and round in my head and as I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for anything to blog today.... "My research on beer is over I fear, my solace now for many a year. But sweet repose I find so fine, still perhaps it doesn't apply to wine."


Good green curry from Justin tonight hopefully a bit more wind in the morning (I know I said this yesterday).

Day 8 Powder Hole Bermuda

I mentioned yesterday how we were looking forward to dry clothes and bedding and most of us were able to enjoy them. Unfortunately not Louise who had left her hatch open to air out the cabin and let in about 10 gallons of rainwater which soaked her bed, books and clothing. We did our best to dry everything out but Louise spent the night on the couch in the saloon.





This morning after a delightful swim around the boat followed by a cold shower on the deck we went into town and did some shopping to top up the provisions and get a few things we'd run out of like spinners to attach lures to our line so we can continue to amuse the fish population with our complete lack of aptitude. We took some pictures of one another in the town pillory then booked tickets for a sightseeing train ride to get a better sense of the island and its history. The train turned out to be a sort of truck with two trailers and we were the only passengers. The commentary was quite extraordinary and had obviously been learned completely by rote. "We are going west along Prince Street and to my left is the White Horse which is a very nice place to eat your lunch or dinner. To my right is a pine tree and a wall. On my left now is another pine tree and a very nice view of the Norwegian Majesty". It did include some facts and we saw Tobacco beach, some forts, nice Bermudian houses and over and over this nice view of the cruise ship that as far as we were concerned was blocking a much nicer view of the harbour and our own boat. It turned out that his normal customers all come off the cruise ships and the only variable part of the commentary is to put in the cruise ship name. None the less it was a pleasant diversion for an hour.

I had decided to leave late this afternoon and after getting everything squared away we set off for the fuel dock on the other side of the harbour following a straight route also being used by small boats. About 100 yards before we reached the dock Jim said to me aren't you going to use the channel and pointed to two large pylons sticking out of the water just on our right. The leftmost one had a red top and the right had an indeterminate top that might have been green. Over the years I have learned to trust my judgement but in the second or so I had to make up my mind I decided I must have made a mistake and missed this on the chart so I turned straight between the pylons. Twenty seconds after that a loud scraping sound and judder brought us to a full stop on the reef. Closer inspection showed that the red top pylon had a left arrow painted on it and I should have kept it on my starboard side as I had planned. The other marker was not in fact green but grey and completely irrelevant. I should stress that this was not Jim's fault but mine for not sticking to my guns. As a helpful local pulled us off he consoled us with the fact that we were by no means the first visiting boat who had though this was the channel. At the fuel dock we topped up our diesel and water and I snorkelled under the boat to make sure we hadn't damaged anything important. Fortunately we just knocked a small bit of fibreglass off the back of the keel at its lowest and narrowest point probably as we were being towed. Our keel is solid here so although I will need to patch it up next time we are on the hard to prevent osmosis it isn't going to create a safety or performance problem. We piloted out through the cut and then watched the nice sunset as Bermuda faded into the distance. Bratwurst in hot dog buns with fried onions and a spinach salad for dinner courtesy of Justin, then Louise and Jim turned in as they have the midnight to six am watches.

I am expecting to have to motor all or part of the next 36 hours and am heading North of the rhumb line to get into some wind. After that we will be motoring only if we can't make 5 knots as I want to make the fuel last as long as possible and maintain a reserve of at least 48 hours so we can avoid any severe weather.

I spent a lot of time mentally kicking myself for what happened today. Yes you should stick to a plan but you can't ignore experienced people and you can make mistakes. I think the lesson is to share the plan better even a simple one so other people have a better idea of what you are going to do and what information you have used. As the crew gain experience they are bound to question things and it can be valuable in helping to avoid mistakes particularly as on a long voyage the skipper can get tired - but it only works if they know enough to be able to get it right. As the skipper you can always say no we're doing it my way but once in a while they are going to have a better idea. Gareth, my first mate across the Mediterranean and on the ARC, could be a complete stubborn pain in the ass (and so can I), we argued on many occasions but it kept me on the straight and narrow and as neither of us had the monopoly on being right we could almost always go straight from major argument to sharing a joke without a pause. The wind is starting to flirt with us now so hopefully we will have the sail up by morning.

Fair winds and flat seas to you all.

Day 7 Powder Hole Bermuda 81nm Part day

We eventually arrived in Bermuda at about 3am. The pilotage went very smoothly with Jim plotting our position on the chart and cross checking with the depth contours while I spotted for buoys and helmed. Justin got up to help us drop anchor, but after her 9-12 watch Louise had decided she'd prefer just to wake up in the morning in harbour.

We were woken by a large group of mad French people on a sail training boat who were diving and jumping into the water about 50 yards away to the cheers and jeers of their peers depending on the complexity and execution of their dive. I don't blame them as this is the nicest harbour water I have ever seen - very clear and lots of Sgt. Majors and other fish.

At about half past 8 we headed over to customs to check in and fill out the normal paperwork. We expected to pay $15 per head for entry but were told there had been a small increase of 166% and it was now $40. On leaving customs we ran into an old but apparently still current Bermudian custom which had attracted a crowd of tourists. They had a loud and angry woman tied in a chair suspended from a long wooden lever and four men were dunking her into the harbour on a regular basis spurred on by chanting from the tourists. It wasn't immediately apparent what she'd done but she was being encouraged to repent and seemed reluctant to do so. Next to this they had the stocks and whipping post so we will try to remain on our best behaviour while here.

We had a perfectly OK salad/sandwich lunch in the White Horse pub but we all agreed we have been eating better on board. We will try to find something a bit different tonight.

This afternoon we've been using the Yacht club facilities to do our email and laundry (and get a beer in the bar). In the last half hour or so Justin has made good enough friends with a pretty local girl here that she's let him go for a swim off her boat. I can't imagine why he got laid off from his job as he is one of the fastest workers I have ever seen. I've just discovered that Kim is putting this on the blog site each day and I've added some pictures.

Jim and I have been looking at the weather forecast and simply put it is very windy North and very calm South. Hopefully we can wend our way through the middle and get enough wind to sail without getting too knocked about. This leg is pretty critical as it is going to take us nearly two weeks and we can't forecast for the whole trip before leaving. Current conditions en-route are pretty nasty with 20ft seas and 50knot winds in places - not being a masochist I am planning to stay as far from this as we can and I use the en-route weather information we get every day from a professional forecaster and experienced round-the-world racing skipper via sat phone to do so. Fortunately the system is moving and there is nothing of this magnitude as yet forecast to follow it.

It will be great to have clean and completely dry sheets and clothes tonight. In the morning we are going to visit the maritime museum, pick up some provisions and then get ready to leave in the afternoon.

Day 6 to 32:03N 66:06W 132nm Winds F2-3WNW-SW

132nm run and just off the coast of Bermuda.

I am incredibly chuffed with our radio, I just called Bermuda from 30 miles out and both reception and broadcast were clear as a bell. The old one never worked very well and I suspect that the horrible connector we replaced with a shiny gold one is as much responsible as the new radio - so much for getting professionals to fit the important stuff!

Wind since yesterday afternoon has been a very relaxed force 2 and 3. During the night we had sails up and down to catch every breath of wind but eventually decided to become a motorboat for a bit and get some rest. We also had some close cargo traffic to avoid so I had something to do during most of the watches. The rest of the crew kindly let me sleep in for an extra hour this morning to make up. Consequently I still don't know if the beer has any effect on my sleep and will have to conduct further research (Drug research is conducted using double blind tests so with alcohol would they be double blind drunk?)

Everybody has been reading and relaxing today, Jim and I finished off the detailed pilot plan this afternoon as we are now likely to arrive in the early hours. Had it not been a full moon I might have held off but with neither difficult weather nor full darkness it should be fine.

My galley today and we had a Greek salad for lunch and Thai red curry beef for dinner which appeared to go down pretty well. No alcohol today until we get safely anchored. We used "Newmans own" dressing in the salad which prompted a conversation about the irony that Paul Newman has been immortalised in balsamic vinaigrette rather than celluloid. I bet he didn't see that coming as a young man. Louise and I spent some time inventorying what we've used to cook with and what other things we'd like for the long middle passage to Horta in the Azores. As we all like flat bread which keeps well we've decided to swap some frozen loaves for Ice cream. I won't even go into our fishing activities today except to say that we could have built a small island out of the floating sea weed we've hooked.

Justin has picked the music again this evening and he is introducing me to some great new artists. Last night we had Madeline Peyroux (Jazz) and currently playing is Pink Martini (Jazzy Salsa). As is usual everyone is looking forward to land and I've decided not to set out again until at least Wednesday to give everyone a break.

Day 5 to 31:55N 68:32W 147nm (in 23hrs as changed time zone) Winds F3-4WSW

Sailing is a fine hobby, it gets you out in the sunshine gives you exercise and you get to meet lots of interesting people. But it would be so much better if you could just dial up the right wind direction and strength. Yesterday there was definitely too much and today there is not enough. Through the night we cruised along at a gentle 4-5 knots including a bit of push from our one functional engine (still got a rope or net around the prop and shaft) and this morning we hoisted the spinnaker (with slightly less cursing and confusion than I was expecting). Now we are whizzing along at... 5-6 knots including a bit of push... The apparent wind is only 7 knots so what can you do?

Early yesterday the watermaker decided to go on strike until I met its extensive list of demands. (We had a full tank in reserve so I put the job off until it got less bumpy). These included: scrubbing the strainer with my toothbrush to remove a thick coating of red algae or corrosion or something, changing the 50 micron intake filter, then changing the 20 and then the 5 micron filters. Unfortunately it is capable of only asking for one thing at a time so you do one, assume the problem is fixed, run the watermaker for a bit and then have it break down with a new fault code. While I was head down in the bilge doing this Jim noticed the generator exhaust was smoking a bit so as last time this was a symptom of overheating I went into diagnostic disassembly mode. First I removed the hose on the through hull to check water was coming in, then the one way valve then the impellor then the cover to the heat exchanger - absolutely nothing apparently wrong but when I put it all back together the smoke had stopped so my conclusion is that the generator got jealous of the attention I was paying the watermaker and had a tantrum.

Justin has made his contribution to improving the function of the boat today. The back of the helm seat has always been horribly uncomfortable as you can feel the metal bar through the padding. Justin's solution was to remove the cover and padding, wind thick rope around the bar, duct tape it in place and replace the rest. It works really well and the rest of the watches will be noticeably more comfortable.

I believe Louise to be sneakily studying in her cabin as she seems to know more about sailing the boat each day and I spied a cruising book in there while checking the through hull. She is now confidently taking a hand with reefing and sail changes as well as watches and has got the hang of steering into the wind and using the winches. Her seasickness has substantially diminished today so I think she is feeling more cheerful.

We had a go at fishing again and had a number of false alarms. We reeled the lines in to do a sail change and didn't have the heart to put them out again especially as Justin had already defrosted some prawns to put in a Pad Thai for dinner. In the end with the sea calm and not enough wind for either the Spinnaker or Genoa I could no longer put off going under the boat and cutting out the clump of fishing net and rope that was lodged there. Doing this in mid-Ocean gives me a feeling somewhere between having agoraphobia and being an expendable minor character in Jaws.

We've now eaten the Pad Thai which was very nice and are motoring along comfortably at 6 knots using both engines. Jim is sitting in back waiting to see if there is a green flash (Bahamas/Caribbean phenomena where the sun flashes green just as it sets) in the nice sunset we are seeing.

I never had the Sam Adams last night and am sleeping better for not drinking which is a real shame as I like beer almost as much as I like sleep. Anyway in the name of proper research I had one at 5o'clock today and I'll see how it goes. Jim saw me lying in the sun with my book in one hand and the beer in the other and said "hard life isn't it" - and really you know it's not, it's just absolutely great. Oh, we are now on "Atlantic time" so we are one hour later here than the US East coast.

Day 4 to 31:48N 71:09W 163nm Winds F5-8SW

Hakuna Matata 31 degrees 48 minutes North, 71 degrees 5 minutes West. 163nm logged, 158nm run to destination.

This trip is something of a baptism of fire for those with no previous ocean experience. Things were pretty bumpy last night and my log for 4:35am is Force 8 SSW speed 10 knots with two reefs in the main and 40% Genoa - it also says "White knuckle ride". Looking at the radar we seemed to be coming out of the rain so I ran downwind for a while instead of waking people to reef again and within 30 minutes we were back to a manageable 6. Justin and Jim have the forward cabin and spent much of the night in the air. We shipped two flying fish and a lot of water during the night but are now all cleaned up and Jim is preparing sandwiches for lunch. We tried eating flying fish on the way out and won't be repeating the experience.

I started working through the pilotage for Bermuda this morning. It's surrounded by a massive reef and as I do not have detailed electronic charts we will be doing it the old fashioned way. The wind is expected to die off towards Monday and we need to make a good 6.5 knots average if we are to clear in and get dinner on land. The alternative is piloting in the dark and sleeping anchored at Powder Hole fortunately there are enough lit buoys to make this practical.

I haven't really done a watch today as people like to sit up in the refreshing air on the helm seat when they aren't dozing to recover from last night so I have read and watched lots of TV on my iPod. (Actually, Louise hasn't dozed and I think she's been up there almost all day reading the first novel in Patrick O'brien's Aubrey/Maturin series) I'm watching season 2 of 24 at the moment and must say it is becoming silly. If the US government's entire response to a nuclear terrorism threat to LA was to bring in a washed out ex-agent with no current information and phone him occasionally to check how he was doing - hang on a minute, this was done during the Bush administration so perhaps I see where they are coming from.

This evening we have slowed down a bit and Jim has been preparing an elaborate dinner of stuffed pork chops with couscous and we will finish up the birthday cake for pudding. We are only doing just over 6 knots and the sea is quite a bit calmer although we have waves up to 10ft they are a long way apart and gently rolling. From the weather forecast and the sky I think tonight will be much easier and as the wind dies down a bit I wouldn't be surprised to get the Spinnaker up on Monday. We have just been joined by some seabirds apparently attracted by the smell of Jim's cooking.

Time perhaps for a spot of critical self-appraisal for the skipper:
So far I've maintained calm, made at least apparently good decisions and not parcelled out any blame (my personal bête noire). This crew are a good bunch and where they lack experience they make up for it with common sense so perhaps I've had an easy ride - the phone interviews obviously worked well. The only thing I've got to watch out for is a certain tendency to laziness in one member and probably the best thing for me to do is set a good example by overcoming my own tendency in the same direction. I do need to make sure everyone gets enough rest particularly on the long run from Bermuda to the Azores as this is probably going to be the key both to harmony and efficiency. Jim and Justin are sleeping in the bow and it can be bumpy and hard to sleep. If I have to I will give up my own cabin but for the moment I'll just see how it goes. The birthday cake celebration was a nice little team builder and I've got some videos and games as well as some training sessions up my sleeve to keep everyone occupied. No grumbling yet and the diversions of Bermuda not too far away. I give myself 8/10 so far.

I am on watch right after dinner and then am going to treat myself to a Sam Adams before I go to bed.

Day 3 to 31:25N 74:12W 158nm Winds F5-6S

I forgot to mention that we refuelled the main tank yesterday to get the weight out of the forward hold where we store the jerry cans. We have used 140 litres of our 680 and expect good sailing weather the rest of the way to Bermuda so should have more than enough. As it turns out we won't be using the engines anyway at least not the starboard one until I can get under the boat (we have 6ft waves at the moment so that will be a while) and remove the large anonymous mass that has got stuck around the propeller. I am going to try and do this en-route as we are encountering a large number of cargo ships and I don't like to be without the ability to manoeuvre should the need arise. Fortunately I was on watch and noticed the change in vibration when we picked this up so was able to shut down immediately and then verify it was there this morning through the water-window in the Port hull.

Overnight and much of today we continued to have squalls around us but most disappeared before they hit. The wind has been in the 20 knot range for much of the day and sometimes well above so we carried 3 reefs (probably overkill) during the night and 2 most of today. Running well reefed has cost us time today but we have logged 158 miles and made 142 on course. We just passed the half way mark so hopefully we will get to Bermuda on Monday.

There has been a bit of queasiness aboard as the boat has been so actively moving and I have recommended Stugeron which I know works well for Kim. I had a slight touch of it from hanging head down in the watermaker compartment changing filters and only Jim seems untouched.

Speaking of Jim, it was his birthday and as he had mentioned it to Kim I included some candles, cake mix and Happy Birthday napkins in the provisioning - nice to be able to celebrate something.

We saw a nice pod of about a dozen dolphins just before dinner but although they came up to us they seemed disappointed with our 6 knot bow wave and left very quickly.

Louise cooked chicken pasta for dinner with cake and Ice Cream to follow. Jim has something special planned for tomorrow and we have been told to keep our hands off the sea salt and pepper cashew nuts as they are an essential ingredient.

As usual after three days I am looking forward to dry land or at least a calm sunny patch tomorrow.

Day 2 to 30:42N 76:53W 147nm Winds 5-6SSW Squalls

Today we've logged 147 miles and covered 143 towards our destination which is good going for Haku. I got a great sleep as last night's watches were fairly uneventful. At 6am Jim woke me to say we had a south going current of almost 2 knots which is bizarre for an area supposedly in the Gulf stream but wasn't exactly on my list of things to wake the skipper for.

We ran with 2 reefs during darkness and put full sail up at 08:30 just in time to have to drop it again for a squall. We have had powerful squalls threatening us on and off all day but only got blasted occasionally as they have veered away or dissipated. Most of the day has been 14 to 20 knots apparent just forward of the beam and our log speeds have been between 7 and 9 knots hence the good progress. So far squalls have only gusted to 36 knots.

Louise has started to enjoy her night watch and saw 3 shooting stars. Justin apparently saw a white "Moonbow" in the rain... Speaking of strange stories when Louise and I went provisioning at Wynn Dixie on Tuesday the checkout operator asked if we were shopping for a month so we explained our voyage. She proceeded to tell us that as a child she had been going round the world on a sailboat, it was to have taken three months but that she and her Pa decided to return home after seeing a shark off the tip of Africa in the first week - her bagger was seriously impressed.

No fishing today as we have been going too fast, but very exhilarating sailing. Louise has been wearing a scopolamine patch but is now switching to an electric bracelet - I thought both of these things were used by torturers but at least they don't make you sleepy.

Jim has been teaching Louise the basics of navigation and the in's and out's of true, magnetic and compass courses which as everyone knows requires a true virgin making dull company*

I'm pleased to report that my very expensive and nearly new but leaky Musto MPX gear is now waterproof around the crotch after dousing it with a bottle of waterproofing spray. There is nothing worse than a damp... place to sit.

It was my galley duty today and for lunch we had chipotle scrambled eggs, freshly baked fruit bread and a spinach salad with blue cheese, candied pecans, apple pieces and raspberry vinaigrette (which is much nicer than it sounds). We had Chilli for dinner which was easy to cook and to eat as we were moving around quite a bit.

We've just reefed down for the night as we still have squalls on the radar. I think everyone else is secretly keen to have a proper one to see what it feels like. Personally I like a nice gentle wind on the beam.It's too early to predict a good run but it has been a good day.

*(mnemonic for True, Variation, Magnetic, Deviation, Compass)

Day 1 St Augustine to 30:21N 79:54W 87nm part day

For the next few days I am going to be using every spare minute training the crew on boat systems, navigation, watch duties and safety. There is a lot to take in and I expect to be going over and over this stuff on a formal and informal basis for some time to come.

Last minute tasks and provisions all complete before the tide but someone has parked 10,000 tons of bridge and a crane on a barge five feet behind us and we have ten in front. We are manoeuvrable but can’t go sideways so managed to beg a tow from the bridge construction team.

The weather channel has decided that Huricanne Ana is not in fact on the way and as none of my other weather sources predicted it I suspect they conjured it up to increase viewing figures.

Through the 5:30pm bridge opening and anchored ready to catch the tide I did the condensed safety and systems brief. After 2 hours I ran out of steam and decided the rest could be done underway. Our official departure time 7:30pm.

The crew: Jim, French Canadian cameraman and seafarer; Justin, young experienced great lake racer from Chicago and Louise, another Canadian and a dinghy racer with as yet no sea experience - the famously bumpy exit through the St. Augustine cut must have made for an interesting first taste.

From 7:30 to midnight was pretty bumpy as we were into wind and sea but with sails and motor we still made good progress and we saw some whales. Jim and I did our own night watches plus another with Justin and Louise to get them used to the job and using the plotter and Radar. Despite lots of large traffic and the AIS not working all coped very well (other than an accidental reset of the plotter and engine shutdown), the new day dawned bright and clear though with not much wind.

I had only a few catnaps but a cup of coffee and Jim’s pancakes had me up and running again.

We saw our second set of marine mammals at a distance either black (Rissos) dolphins or killer whales just before catching a beautiful Mahi-Mahi and reeling it right up to the transom. We got some nice pictures but the fish was very effective at avoiding the gaff and wriggled free at the last second before it became lunch.

Squalls threatened the afternoon but melted away before us and the breeze came around to make the sailing both faster and more comfortable. During the afternoon we fitted new red tell tales on the mainsail. These help us to see how efficiently the the sails are working and whether we need to adjust them for changes in the wind.

Our next lot of marine mammals were definitely dolphins and lots of them as they came very close but they distained our bow wave and left us too soon.

I had a brief afternoon nap and woke up to a snap from one of our reels as a large fish tore the whole line straight off. Fortunately, I used up my last dollar bills buying extra lures and line so we should have fish yet despite a rocky start.

Justin is on galley today and produced multi coloured sandwiches for lunch with a chicken and rice dish due for our dinner. We have run 87 miles by the log and about 92 over the ground thanks to the Gulf Stream. A good start and everyone shaping up nicely.

St Augustine to Gibraltar: Day 0

St. Augustine municipal marina. Weather bright, warm and humid. Sea state calm. Wind 2SW.

Yesterday was the start of hurricane season and the weather channel already announced a tropical depression in the Atlantic may turn into hurricane Ana. I have been madly shopping. If there is bad weather we won’t get into Bermuda and it could take up to 21 days to get to the Azores. Mind you if there is the hint of a hurricane tomorrow we will be staying in port.

Food for four people for twenty one days plus eleven days of emergency bottled water a few bottles of wine and an unusual amount of chocolate weighs almost 500Ibs so the shopping has been my exercise for the week. Fortunately we still have a stock of canned food left over from the ARC (The race not Noah’s) which we would use if the freezer and fridges failed. With luck we can supplement all this with some freshly caught fish.

Two of the crew arrived yesterday and I got them doing some odd boat jobs like taping up anything rough that a sail or rope could snag on and stowing provisions. It’s amazing how quickly people’s character becomes apparent and in these two we had the easy going hard worker and the hands in the pocket helpful advice provider. I wonder what my third crew member is going to be like.

This morning I hired an economy car and was upgraded to a big American SUV - perfect for getting Kim, kids and luggage the 120 miles to Orlando airport ready for their trip to Yellowstone and so I could bring back the third member of my crew. I put in $40 of Gas and set off.

As skipper one of your primary goals is to gain the confidence and trust of your new crew. So it’s not a good idea to run out of gas as you bring them back from the airport. Fortunately a passing cabbie took us to a gas station and then to another one that actually had gas containers, then back to the first to use the ATM so she could be paid and so the gas guy could try to sell me one of the twenty gas containers he had since found. To be fair I did put fuel in this morning and being from the UK didn’t realise how quickly one of Detroit’s finest could lay waste to half a fossilised forest (12mpg!).

Pub grub tonight and a last couple of pints for the crew before we set off. Also the chance for our first serious "Team talk" - describing the route, what they could expect to experience and how the duties would be shared out. I did wonder if I might get anyone drop out at this point as there are inevitable nerves for anyone without Ocean experience (and with - but I saw no need to mention that) and although I had been over most of this on the phone it is easy at a distance for euphoria and excitement to prevent people from hearing some of the harsher details of life on a long crossing.

Louise, Justin and Jim